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South African Class 15 4-8-2
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South African Class 15 4-8-2
The South African Railways Class 15 4-8-2 of 1914 was a steam locomotive.
In 1914, the South African Railways placed ten Class 15 steam locomotives with a 4-8-2 Mountain type wheel arrangement in service.
D.A. Hendrie, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the South African Railways (SAR), commenced with design work on the Class 15 in 1913. It was intended as a mixed-traffic locomotive for use in the Orange Free State, where gradients and curvature were less severe than on the coastal sections. The locomotive was similar in general layout to the Classes 12 and 14, but with larger 57 inches (1,448 millimetres) coupled wheels. Ten locomotives were built by the North British Locomotive Company (NBL) and delivered in February and March 1914, numbered in the range from 1561 to 1570.
The engines had plate frames, Walschaerts valve gear, Belpaire fireboxes without combustion chambers and were superheated. They were delivered with Type MP1 tenders which had a coal capacity of 10 long tons (10.2 tonnes) and a water capacity of 4,250 imperial gallons (19,300 litres).
To reduce the weight on the trailing wheels, steel fireboxes were originally used instead of copper since the water quality in the Free State was considered suitable for this metal. Some locomotives in Natal had been fitted with steel fireboxes years previously and the results were fairly good, but wherever water supplies were of poor quality, steel fireboxes gave a lot of trouble and necessitated the introduction of water treatment plants to prevent corrosion.
This reintroduction of steel fireboxes eventually led to its widespread use on all the larger locomotive types, but it also forced the SAR to adopt locomotive water treatment as a general policy. There was no settled policy on water treatment for some years, but engines with copper fireboxes were used mainly in areas where the water was not of good quality. Hendrie followed a conservative policy in this respect and steel fireboxes were only to be fitted in large numbers by his successor, Colonel F.R. Collins DSO.
In the case of the Class 15, it was still early days for water treatment and enough trouble was experienced to result in their steel fireboxes being replaced with copper fireboxes. The locomotive's one flaw was excessively long fire tubes. On later models like the Class 15A, Hendrie improved the boiler by adding a combustion chamber, which shortened the distance between tube plates from 21 feet 9 inches (6,629 millimetres) to 19 feet (5,791 millimetres).
During the 1930s, many serving locomotives were reboilered with a standard boiler type designed by A.G. Watson, CME of the SAR from 1929 to 1936, as part of his standardisation policy. Such Watson Standard reboilered locomotives were reclassified by adding an "R" suffix to their classification.
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South African Class 15 4-8-2
The South African Railways Class 15 4-8-2 of 1914 was a steam locomotive.
In 1914, the South African Railways placed ten Class 15 steam locomotives with a 4-8-2 Mountain type wheel arrangement in service.
D.A. Hendrie, Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the South African Railways (SAR), commenced with design work on the Class 15 in 1913. It was intended as a mixed-traffic locomotive for use in the Orange Free State, where gradients and curvature were less severe than on the coastal sections. The locomotive was similar in general layout to the Classes 12 and 14, but with larger 57 inches (1,448 millimetres) coupled wheels. Ten locomotives were built by the North British Locomotive Company (NBL) and delivered in February and March 1914, numbered in the range from 1561 to 1570.
The engines had plate frames, Walschaerts valve gear, Belpaire fireboxes without combustion chambers and were superheated. They were delivered with Type MP1 tenders which had a coal capacity of 10 long tons (10.2 tonnes) and a water capacity of 4,250 imperial gallons (19,300 litres).
To reduce the weight on the trailing wheels, steel fireboxes were originally used instead of copper since the water quality in the Free State was considered suitable for this metal. Some locomotives in Natal had been fitted with steel fireboxes years previously and the results were fairly good, but wherever water supplies were of poor quality, steel fireboxes gave a lot of trouble and necessitated the introduction of water treatment plants to prevent corrosion.
This reintroduction of steel fireboxes eventually led to its widespread use on all the larger locomotive types, but it also forced the SAR to adopt locomotive water treatment as a general policy. There was no settled policy on water treatment for some years, but engines with copper fireboxes were used mainly in areas where the water was not of good quality. Hendrie followed a conservative policy in this respect and steel fireboxes were only to be fitted in large numbers by his successor, Colonel F.R. Collins DSO.
In the case of the Class 15, it was still early days for water treatment and enough trouble was experienced to result in their steel fireboxes being replaced with copper fireboxes. The locomotive's one flaw was excessively long fire tubes. On later models like the Class 15A, Hendrie improved the boiler by adding a combustion chamber, which shortened the distance between tube plates from 21 feet 9 inches (6,629 millimetres) to 19 feet (5,791 millimetres).
During the 1930s, many serving locomotives were reboilered with a standard boiler type designed by A.G. Watson, CME of the SAR from 1929 to 1936, as part of his standardisation policy. Such Watson Standard reboilered locomotives were reclassified by adding an "R" suffix to their classification.
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